T3 - UK (2020-12)

DECEMBER 2020 T3 75

Apple iPhone 12

The iPhone 12’s aluminium side
frame and glass back come in five
colours: black, white, red, green and
blue. Unlike, say, the iPad Air where
the colours tend to stick with all
being quite pastel, here they run an
interesting range. The new design is
superior in every way – aesthetically,
ergonomically and functionally. It’s
maybe the best-looking iPhone so far.

In glowing colours
Aside from the design, the screen is
the biggest upgrade from iPhone 11 to
iPhone 12, and again it’s a knockout.
Instead of the LCD panel in its
predecessor, the iPhone 12 has a
beautiful OLED display that’s also
higher resolution, so you get a boost
in a whole range of areas. In fact, it’s
nearly identical to the screen in the
iPhone 12 Pro, and feels it.
The screen is now 1170x2532,
making it 460 pixels per inch – it’s
impossible to see individual pixels
without glueing it to the end of your
nose. It supports the P3 wide colour
gamut, so everything is as vibrant and
realistic as possible.

It’s also an HDR screen, which is

primarily of use when watching

Dolby Vision HDR movies from

services like Netflix, Disney+ and

iTunes. When an HDR video demands

it, the screen can peak its brightness

as high as 1,200 nits, which is

extremely impressive. Very few TVs

can achieve this, and that includes

flagship OLED TVs. Combined with

the precision of OLED’s self-emissive

pixels, there’s genuinely stunning

contrast and realism here.

For all of our waxing on about the

new screen, there is one feature

missing compared to other phones,

though: a 90Hz or 120Hz screen. The

iPhone’s screen shows a new image 60

times per second (aka 60Hz), which

has been the norm for phones and

computers for a very long time.

However, recently, Android

phones in particular have started

including screens that offer 90Hz, or

120Hz. The advantage of these is that

it makes motion look smoother and

clearer – there’s not much of a

practical benefit on phones outside of

gaming, but it’s absolutely nicer. Once

you try a high-refresh screen, going

back feels a bit low-rent.

It’s not just Android flagships that

have these screens – everything from

the Pixel 5 (which is cheaper than the

iPhone 12), to the OnePlus 8 Pro (which

is a similar price to the iPhone) have

them – so at this point, it’s noticeable

that the iPhone 12 is missing out.

Hot shot

When it comes to camera specs, there

isn’t a huge amount of difference from

the iPhone 11: the new features here

are small tweaks, not leaps forward.

There are two rear cameras: one

ultra-wide lens, and one wide-angle

(which is the ‘normal’ lens type on

phones), both with 12MP sensors.

The ultra-wide lens is roughly a 0.5x

zoom compared to the wide. The

wide lens has a larger aperture this

year, which is great for low-light and

Night mode shots especially, but also

helps with the crispness and colour

vibrancy of images across the board.

The other differences are that the

ultra-wide lens now has lens

correction applied automatically so

QUICK AS A FLASH

Not only does the iPhone

12 come with 5G, it also

contains the fastest

processor in any phone on

the market: Apple’s A14

Bionic chip. As a result, apps

and sites load lightning fast.

It’s arguably the

best-looking

iPhone so far, and

that’s a hotly

contested category

LOOKING SHARP

Taking a lead from the

design language of the

iPhone 5, the iPhone 12 has

flat edges and tiny bezels

that make it perhaps the

best looking iPhone so far.